Wrenches and pliers sit snugly in customized slots in a rack he built to hold them.

Mason jars hold nuts, bolts and screws, laid out with the purpose and precision of a surgeon's operating table.

And every day has a plan.

His children bring his "medicine," basically anything they scrounge up that is broken or in need of repair.

"In the house, there is always something to repair, to fix, to make better," he says, giggling a little as he turns toward the finely manicured backyard of his Etobicoke home he's lived in for 43 years.

Ernie is 90. He tinkers. Small in stature, he shuffles a little as he walks, gingerly holding a railing on his way down stairs.

Apart from his children, Red Cross volunteers bring him meals, he gets help with the yard work and if he needs a nurse, he gets a visit. He's active, healthy and happy.

He could be the poster child for the future.

But things aren't headed in that direction.

Canada is undergoing a massive demographic shift.

The first baby boomers began turning 65 in 2012, and by 2036, one out of every four of our neighbours will be elderly.

An estimated 60% to 80% of seniors currently housed in long-term care facilities suffer some degree of dementia.

Suicide is an increasingly tragic and growing problem among the elderly.

And there is small but growing numbers of "shut-in" boomers — those who lack family support or advocates, live alone and often lack a family doctor — and who increasingly show up at emergency departments for care.

Change is needed if we are to prepare for the needs of Canada's boomers, and numerous studies by government across the country done just that.

However, there's been more talk than progress, experts argue, and we're running out of time to prepare.

Sharon Carstairs is 71, the daughter of former Nova Scotia Ppremier Harold Connolly, a former senator and was the first woman to lead an opposition party in Canada after becoming Manitoba's Liberal leader in the '80s.

After spending years co-authoring several reports in the Senate on health care and seniors, most recently a 2009 report on Canada's aging population, Carstairs grew frustrated because those reports were collecting dust and being ignored.

Eventually, she resigned from the Senate in large part out of frustration.

"We don't have a health care system in Canada, we have an acute care system," Carstairs told QMI Agency.

The very sick are cared for well but we don't do a good job of keeping others at home and out hospitals and high-cost facilities.

"We're using acute care hospital beds to hold thousands of Canadians who should be in long-term care or home care," she says.

"It's the most expensive type of care we can provide to warehouse these people."

Canada has a "little bit of breathing space" for preparations to cope with aging boomers, but not much, suggests University of Toronto professor emeritus David Foot, one of the country's most respected demographers.

"We need to get this right to prepare for that boomer onslaught," Foot says. "We can have an excellent system if we choose to."

Zero hour is 2027.

"The first boomer born in 1947 reaches 80 in 2027," Foot says.

That's when the critical mass, the largest bulge of the baby boom, approaches 80 and will require the most care of their lives.

"We actually have coming up five to 10 years of slower growth in demand on the health care system," Foot says.

During that time, Canada needs to train gerontologists, therapists, psychiatrists, palliative care nurses and specialists, replace the workforce of aging nurses and the army of some 3 million volunteers who currently provide the bulk of in-home care to seniors, say experts.

"Obviously, if it takes 15 years to create a surgeon, we have to start 15 years before, which is like now," Foot says.

In Canada, baby boomers, the post-war generation born between 1947 and 1965, began turning 65 in 2012. More than 8.2 million babies were born during that time. But by 2032, Canada's population of seniors aged 65 or over will double.

Here's how it breaks down:

In 1971, just 8% of Canadians were 65 or older.

Roughly 14% currently fall into that category.

By 2036, the percentage of elderly will increase to 25%.

By 2036, some 10 million Canadians will be seniors with a growing need for health and social programs.

By 2061, all but a handful of the Baby boomers will have passed away but the number of elderly will still range from 12 million to 15 million Canadians.